2008 Kazakhstan Premier League
# 2008 Kazakhstan Premier League

The 2008 Kazakhstan Premier League was the 17th season of the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest football league competition in Kazakhstan, and took place between 8 March and 5 November.

## Teams

For the 2007 season, Megasport and Energetik were promoted to the Premier League, replacing Taraz and Ekibastuzets, who had been thrown out of the league for Match fixing,

### Team overview

| Team | Manager | Location | Venue | Capacity |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Aktobe | Vladimir Mukhanov | Aktobe | Central Stadium | 13,200 |
| Almaty | Bernd Storck | Almaty | Central Stadium | 23,804 |
| Astana | Vyacheslav Ledovskih | Astana | Kazhymukan Munaitpasov Stadium | 12,350 |
| Atyrau | Sergey Andreyev | Atyrau | Munaishy Stadium | 9,500 |
| Energetic-2 | Vladimir Linchevskiy | Ekibastuz | Shakhter | 6,300 |
| Esil Bogatyr | Evgeny Yarovenko | Petropavl | Karasai Stadium | 11,000 |
| Irtysh | Oirat Saduov | Pavlodar | Central Stadium | 15,000 |
| Kairat | Vakhid Masudov | Almaty | Central Stadium | 23,804 |
| Kaisar | Vladimir Nikitenko | Kyzylorda | Gani Muratbayev Stadium | 7,000 |
| Megasport | Vladimir Gulyamkhaidarov | Almaty | Central Stadium | 23,804 |
| Okzhetpes | Viktor Rymar | Kokshetau | Okzhetpes Stadium | 4,158 |
| Ordabasy | Jovica Nikolić | Shymkent | Kazhimukan Munaitpasov Stadium | 20,000 |
| Shakhter Karagandy | Ivan Azovskiy | Karagandy | Shakhter Stadium | 20,000 |
| Tobol | Dmitriy Ogai | Kostanay | Central Stadium | 8,323 |
| Vostok | Oleksandr Holokolosov | Oskemen | Vostok Stadium | 8,500 |
| Zhetysu | Ilie Karp | Taldykorgan | Zhetysu Stadium | 4,000 |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Incoming manager |
| - | - | - | - |
| Almaty | Marco Bragonje | Sacked | Bernd Storck |
| Astana | Aleksandr Irkhin | Sacked | Vyacheslav Ledovskih |
| Atyrau | Sergei Volgin | Sacked | Sergey Andreyev |
| Energetik-2 | Valeriy Zhuravlev | Mutual consent | Vladimir Linchevskiy |
| Megasport | Ravil Ramazanov | Mutual consent | Vladimir Gulyamkhaidarov |
| Okzhetpes | Vyacheslav Ledovskih | Signed by Astana | Viktor Rymar |
| Ordabasy | Bauyrzhan Baimukhammedov | Mutual consent | Jovica Nikolić |
| Shakhter Karagandy | Revaz Dzodzuashvili | Mutual consent | Ivan Azovskiy (caretaker) |
| Zhetysu | Eduard Glazunov | Mutual consent | Ilie Karp |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Aktobe (C) | 30 | 20 | 7 | 3 | 61 | 18 | +43 | 67 | Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Tobol | 30 | 20 | 7 | 3 | 58 | 21 | +37 | 67 | Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round |
| 3 | Irtysh Pavlodar | 30 | 18 | 8 | 4 | 58 | 28 | +30 | 62 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 4 | Kaisar | 30 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 29 | 22 | +7 | 49 | |
| 5 | Megasport | 30 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 33 | 38 | −5 | 42 | |
| 6 | Zhetysu | 30 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 28 | 27 | +1 | 41 | |
| 7 | Shakhter Karagandy | 29 | 11 | 13 | 5 | 41 | 26 | +15 | 37 | |
| 8 | Alma-Ata | 30 | 10 | 7 | 13 | 33 | 39 | −6 | 37 | |
| 9 | Okzhetpes | 30 | 10 | 5 | 15 | 32 | 48 | −16 | 35 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 10 | Kairat (D, R) | 30 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 25 | 28 | −3 | 34 | Relegation to the Kazakhstan First Division |
| 11 | Astana (D, R) | 30 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 37 | 33 | +4 | 32 | Relegation to the Kazakhstan First Division |
| 12 | Ordabasy | 30 | 7 | 9 | 14 | 25 | 44 | −19 | 30 | |
| 13 | Esil Bogatyr | 30 | 4 | 12 | 14 | 21 | 42 | −21 | 24 | |
| 14 | Energetik-2 (D, R) | 30 | 5 | 8 | 17 | 21 | 43 | −22 | 23 | Relegation to the Kazakhstan First Division |
| 15 | Atyrau | 30 | 3 | 10 | 17 | 22 | 54 | −32 | 19 | |
| — | Vostok (D, D, D, D, R, R, R, R) | 29 | 10 | 5 | 14 | 35 | 48 | −13 | 35 | Expelled and disqualified and excluded and withdrawn from the league. |

* 1 2 Championship was decided in a decision game.
* 1 2 3 4 Alma-Ata declared their withdrawal from the league in December 2008. As a consequence, Atyrau were spared from relegation. Subsequently, Alma-Ata and Megasport officials announced that the two clubs have merged to a new team called "Lokomotiv" and expressed their will to move to Astana. Lokomotiv also inherited Alma-Ata's 2009–10 UEFA Europa League spot earned through Kazakhstan Cup 2008. However, Lokomotiv were eventually denied the UEFA License for competing in Europa League due to legal difficulties when creating the new club. Thereby, the potential candidates for one spot left in Europa League were Kaisar, Zhetysu, Shakhter and Okzhetpes. Kaisar and Shakhter were, however, denied a license and Zhetysu eventually withdrew from Europe due to financial difficulties. That left Okzhetpes as the third Europa League participant from Kazakhstan.
* 1 2 On 2 October 2008, the FFK revisited their decisions upon Shakhter and Vostok for playing a fixed match from 16 September 2008. Shakhter were docked nine points while Vostok were immediately expelled from the competition. The result of the game in question has been cancelled and all remaining Vostok games were counted as won by 3–0 for their opponents. The expulsion of Vostok from Kazakhstan Cup 2008 has been revoked.
* ↑ Kairat were docked three points for not paying back existing debts in a timely manner.
* ↑ On 20 January 2009, Kairat handed a letter to the FFK citing they will voluntarily withdraw from the Kazakhstan Premier League due to financial reasons. They are eligible for competing in the First Division.
* ↑ Astana were docked three points for not paying transfer money to Okzhetpes and Alma-Ata, and for not paying salary to former manager Aleksandr Irkhin.
* ↑ On 20 January 2009, Astana withdrew from 2009 season due to unpaid debts. They do not compete on a professional level, but keep their youth academy.
* 1 2 On 16 November 2008 FFK board decided not to change the competition format for the 2009 season, what meant that it would feature the same number of teams (16). Since there were four teams originally scheduled to be relegated at the end of the season, the board decided to save from relegation Esil Bogatyr (due to higher number of points) and Vostok (due to importance of the team for the development of football in the East region of Kazakhstan). However, after two withdrawals the 2009 season features 14 teams.

### Play-off match

Because Aktobe and Tobol were tied on points and number of wins after the regular season, they played out the championship in a decision game.

## Results

| Home \ Away | AKT | ALM | AST | ATY | ENE | ESB | IRT | KRT | KSR | MEG | OKZ | ORD | SHA | TOB | VOS | ZHE |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Aktobe | | 3–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 5–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 |
| Almaty | 0–1 | | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 1–2 | 3–3 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 2–2 |
| Astana | 1–0 | 3–0 | | 7–1 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Atyrau | 2–4 | 3–1 | 0–0 | | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 0–5 | 1–4 | 1–0 |
| Energetik-2 | 2–4 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 1–0 | | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 |
| Esil Bogatyr | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 0–1 |
| Irtysh Pavlodar | 0–0 | 1–0 | 5–2 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | | 3–1 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 1–0 |
| Kairat | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 3–1 |
| Kaisar | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| Megasport | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | | 5–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 0–3 |
| Okzhetpes | 0–3 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 2–0 |
| Ordabasy | 1–4 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 |
| Shakhter Karagandy | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 5–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 2–1 | | 1–0 | XXX | 1–0 |
| Tobol | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 6–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | | 3–0 | 2–0 |
| Vostok | 0–3 | 2–0 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 8–2 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 0–2 | | 0–3 |
| Zhetysu | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | |

* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 The games have been counted as lost with a score of 3–0 for Vostok because of their participation in a fixed game with Shakhter.
* 1 2 The games Megasport vs. Zhetysu (Round 1, 2–1) and Megasport vs. Astana (Round 2, 0–0) were awarded against Megasport because they fielded two ineligible players.
* 1 2 3 The games Okzhetpes vs. Vostok (Round 1, 1–1), Okzhetpes vs. Aktobe (Round 2, 2–2) and Shakhter vs. Okzhetpes (Round 3, 2–1) were awarded against Okzhetpes because of unknown reasons.
* ↑ The result of the game (Shakhter 2–1 Vostok) has been discarded.

## Season statistics

### Top scorers

    As of match played 5 November 2008

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Alexandru Golban | Tobol | 13 |
| 1 | Murat Tleshev | Irtysh | 13 |
| 3 | Nurbol Zhumaskaliyev | Tobol | 12 |
| 4 | Marat Khairullin | Aktobe | 11 |
| 5 | Georgi Daskalov | Irtysh | 10 |
| 5 | Maksat Baizhanov | Kaisar | 10 |
| 5 | Aleksandr Savin | Astana | 10 |
